We are seeking renewal of the Case Western Reserve University Nephrology Training Program, which has been funded continuously for twenty years by the National Institutes of Health. The goal of this program is to train promising, postdoctoral fellows as independent investigators, committed to understanding normal kidney function and kidney disease pathogenesis. Support is requested for three postdoctoral, board-eligible or board-certified internists and/or pediatricians or basic scientists (Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D.) for two or more years of research training. On average, 1-2 new trainees will enter into the program each year. The principal training mechanism is direct performance of a research project under the supervision of one or more of the primary training faculty, which consists of 13 investigators in the adult or pediatric Divisions of Nephrology and 9 other clinical and basic scientists, who actively study kidney biology. The training faculty are based in five departments, Medicine, Pediatrics, Pathology, Physiology and Epidemiology/Biostatistics at the School of Medicine. Research interests of the primary training faculty include renal immunopathology/immunology, developmental biology, renal cell biology and physiology, genetic epidemiology and health services research/molecular epidemiology/clinical trials. Research faculty test specific hypotheses using in vitro models, animal models and/or patients by applying cellular, molecular biological, genetic, genomic and epidemiological methods. Faculty laboratories contain over 20,000 square feet of state-of-the-art space. The CWRU General Clinical Research Center is available for patient-oriented research. Training also includes lectures, weekly seminars and, if appropriate, course work either in formal degree programs or individual classes. Trainees present their data in seminars attended by faculty and other trainees. Career mentoring is an integral aspect of the program. A formal mechanism of administration, governance and program evaluation is in place to assure program quality. This program offers to nephrology and basic scientist postdoctoral fellows an interdisciplinary training program in state-of-the-art experimental approaches to define mechanisms of kidney physiology and disease within the rich, research environment of the CWRU School of Medicine.